Theoricus Poker...?


Avete!

Here is a fun way to drill correspondences - I suppose it'd be preferable to use a deck other than the one you read with.

So here it goes: the dealer gives everyone 7 cards. The person to their left puts a card in the middle face up - any card they want, then draws a card from the facedown deck that's left over. The next person has to put a card on it that either is of the same planet, element, zodiac, is a sephira connected to the path, or a path connected to the sephira. 2's, then, would go with any zodiacal, or Aleph, Daleth, Heh or Vav - or any wand - 6's with any king (based on the four-world correspondences listed below "for simplicity's sake"), resh (sun), gimel, heh, zayin, nun, samek, or ayin - nun would go with cups or 6's, 7's or 5 for Mars, or peh. If you pass, you still have to draw a card. If someone puts down a card that doesn't correspond, anyone playing can call bullshit and if they're right, the person who put it down has to pick up all the cards that are face up - but if it does correspond, the person who called bullshit has to pick them up. Whoever runs out of cards first wins. Should make for some interesting debates and stretchy correspondances - have fun :)

For simplicity's sake, the Supernal Triangle could correspond with all Kings, the Ethical all Queens, the Astral all Knights, and the 10s all Pages.



, then goes with any King, Sword, Ace or 2 (the sephirot it connects), as well as , , and , and (one could argue) Wand (primal element).



goes with any King, 8 (for mercury), Ace or 3 (the sephirot it connects), or (ruled by mercury), Wand (primal element) or (one might argue) Sword (element of planet (too stretchy?)), and then there's the Shem correspondences to consider... perhaps for a more "Advanced Theoricus Poker", in which case it would also go with , , , , or .



goes with any 9, Ace, or 6, King, or Queen, as well as , , , , and , and (one could argue) Cup, and for the "Advanced" version, , , , , or .



goes with any 7, 2, 3, or King, as well as , , , , , , , and (one could argue) Wand, and for the "Advanced" version, , , , , or .



goes with any 2 (since it connects it *and* 2 goes with all Zodiacals), 6, 5, King, Queen, or Wand, as well as , , and for the "Advanced" version, , , or .



goes with any 2 (for both the same reasons as the Emperor does), 4, 7, King, Queen, or Pentacle, (one could argue) 10, as well as , , and for the "Advanced" version, , , or .



goes with any 2, 3, 4, 8, King, Queen, or Sword, as well as , , and for the "Advanced" version, , , or .





Oh, and also I discovered that "Neophyte Poker" would be the same, but with no major arcana. Basically like Uno - 4s with 4s, cups with cups - the court cards presenting a slight challenge for newbies.




If you would like to hear the Episode of The Esoterinerd Podcast in which Dru & I play Theoricus Poker, click here: